{"id":1466,"date":"2022-04-28T09:11:16","date_gmt":"2022-04-28T09:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pittvillehistory.org.uk\/wpt\/?page_id=1466"},"modified":"2022-10-02T08:42:30","modified_gmt":"2022-10-02T08:42:30","slug":"price-charlotte","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pittvillehistory.org.uk\/wpt\/pittville-lives\/price-charlotte\/","title":{"rendered":"Price Charlotte"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Charlotte Anne Price<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Charlotte Anne Price was born in 1840\/1 in Burford, Oxfordshire, the daughter of James Scarlett Price (solicitor) and his wife Ann. From 1877 until her death in 1910 she lived at No 4 Clarendon Villas (now 12 Pittville Lawn) in Cheltenham.

In 1861 she was living at home in Burford with her parents and her brother William, two years her senior. She had a younger sister Sarah (born 1842\/3) and at least three other, younger, brothers.

\"\"Although not a significant literary figure, she is remembered for a number of minor and ephemeral productions. Her first literary work appeared in or about 1865, when Edward Hale & Co of Promenade House, Cheltenham, published her Cotswold Polka<\/em><\/a> for piano.  Hale was a general printer and publisher, who also published the Cheltenham Times and Musical Record<\/em>. (Click below to listen to an audio file of the Cotswold Polka<\/em>.1<\/sup><\/a>)

Charlotte\u2019s father died in mid 1876 and by 1877 she had moved with her mother to No 4 Clarendon Villas. Her mother Ann died suddenly in 1880 (29 March) of a ruptured blood vessel, and was buried in the family vault back in Burford.

At the time of the 1881 census Charlotte lived alone with a cook and a parlour-maid at the house in Clarendon Villas. Later that year she re-entered the literary world in a small way, with the publication of her Poems and Lyrics for Idle Hours<\/em> (F. V. White & Co, 31 Southampton Street, London; 7s<\/em> 6d<\/em>). These were generally greeted with a rather negative reception:

here<\/a> to listen to an audio file of the Cotswold Polka<\/em>. <\/audio><\/span>It is probable that \u201cPoems and Lyrics for Idle Hours\u201d, by Charlotte A. Price [\u2026] was intended for private circulation; it is the work of a reverent gentlewoman with no special inspiration, but will doubtless give much pleasure to her immediate friends.” (Graphic <\/em>(1881) 20 August)

“This book is one of those entirely unpretentious collections of domestic poems, or poems of the affections, as we think they are called, which there is very little need to examine very rigidly or seriously. Miss Price is not always careful of that Scylla of the minor bard \u2013 phraseology which has a ludicrous association.” (Academy<\/em> (1881), 19 November p. 380)

“For whose \u201cidle hours\u201d? we are inclined to ask, as we read this volume. Scarcely the reader\u2019s, we should say, for verse of this kind, never rising into eloquence, and but rarely touched with any spark of beauty, is very hard reading indeed.” (Spectator<\/em> (1882), 30 September p. 1262)

Her Cotswold Polka <\/em>attracted some attention again in 1886 when it was republished by Hale in its second edition for 3s<\/em>, and in 1891 she composed the words for Edwin Dyer\u2019s hymn Nothing Between<\/em> (Novello, Ewer and Co: London and New York). The following year the Cheltenham Examiner <\/em>(30 March p. 8) noted that she had donated the proceeds from the sale of \u201cher\u201d hymn (\u00a35) to the Friendless Girls\u2019 Society.

The hymn was also sung as a memorial service held in Burford in November 1891. Charlotte has caused two impressive stained-glass windows to be made and positioned at the rear of the church above the fount, where they remain today in memory of her father, mother, sister (who died aged 12) and three brothers who died in infancy.

\"\"<\/center>
The windows were constructed by C. E. Kempe of London, and Jackson\u2019s Oxford Journal<\/em> of 14 November remarked that \u201cthe glass is an admirable specimen of the style of the 15th century, and does great credit to the artist\u201d.

At this time Charlotte\u2019s literary hopes received a boost. Her publisher F. V. White took over the ladies\u2019 literary magazine Belgravia<\/em>, which had achieved something of a name for itself under the vigorous editorship of the sensational novelist Mary Braddon. But in the 1880s its readership declined, and when White took it over the magazine was a shadow of its former self. It seems that Charlotte Price contributed a substantial body of articles of literary and historical subjects between 1891 and 1895,2<\/sup><\/a> alongside popular writers such as Florence Maryatt and Marie Corelli.

Notices for these short pieces were typically kinder and less demanding than had been the reviewers of her Poems and Lyrics<\/em> in 1881:

“The second article in Charlotte A. Price\u2019s series of \u201cFamous Poets\u201d deals with William Cowper, and gives us a touching picture of a devout Christian soul of highly-sensitive fibre, and the prey to religious monomania.” (County Gentleman<\/em> (1893) 1 July)

In 1897 Charlotte had three almshouses built in Burford (these are still standing):

“Price’s Almshouses at the top of The Hill were founded in 1897 by Miss Charlotte Anne Price, a daughter of the solicitor James Scarlett Price. Three cottages were to be built ‘in the Elizabethan style’, each one housing a ‘suitable aged or infirm woman’.” (http:\/\/www.victoriacountyhistory.ac.uk\/explore\/items\/almshouses-burford)

Charlotte Price, spinster, lived for the rest of her life at No 4 Clarendon Villas. The Gloucestershire Echo<\/em> of 7 July 1910 carries her death notice:

“Price – July 4, at her residence, 4 Clarendon Villas, Cheltenham, Charlotte Ann, daughter of the late James Scarlett Price, Esq., of Burford, Oxon.”

Her will was proved on 21 July, and despite her charitable works she left behind her a considerable personal estate of \u00a315,334 8s<\/em>. 7d<\/em>.


John Simpson<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Notes<\/strong>

1<\/a><\/sup> Baptised 11 November 1840 at Burford (https:\/\/familysearch.org\/pal:\/MM9.1.1\/J77R-WVG).
2<\/a><\/sup> Charlotte A. Price \u201cA Highland Cot\u201d in Belgravia<\/em> (1891) vol. 76, p. 305ff; \u201cSt. George and the Dragon\u201d in Belgravia<\/em> (1892) vol. 79 p. 23ff; \u201cShrines\u201d in Belgravia<\/em> (1892) vol. 78 p. 209ff; \u201cRetrospection\u201d in Belgravia<\/em> (1892) March vol. 77 p. 315; \u201cSonnet. A Day in September\u201d (Part 2) in Belgravia<\/em> (1893) September vol. 82 p. 101; \u201cSonnet\u201d in Belgravia<\/em> (1893) January vol. 80 p. 57; \u201cFamous Poets. I. \u2013 Lord Byron\u201d in Belgravia<\/em> (1893) February vol. 80 p. 137-52; \u201cNever\u201d in Belgravia<\/em> (1893) April vol. 80 p. 431; \u201cThe New Resident at Slocombe\u201d in Belgravia<\/em> (1893) Holiday number, p. 98-111; \u201cFamous Poets. II. \u2013 William Cowper\u201d in Belgravia<\/em> (1893) vol. 81 p. 199ff; \u201cFamous Poets. III. \u2013 Oliver Goldsmith\u201d in Belgravia<\/em> (1893) October vol. 82 p. 138-54; \u201cSir Harry Gray\u201d (Part 1) in Belgravia<\/em> (1893) November  vol. 82 p. 312-36; \u201cSir Harry Gray\u201d (Part 2) in Belgravia<\/em> (1893) December vol. 82 p. 421-44; \u201cThe Crusades\u201d in London Society<\/em> (Clowes: 1894) vol. 65 (pts 1 and 2), 66 (pts 3 and 4) (part 1: March 1894 pp 253-67; part 2:  June pp. 587-603; part 3: November pp. 472-90; part 4: December 593-612:
http:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/londonsocietyvo02unkngoog#page\/n10\/mode\/2up and<\/a> http:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/londonsociety10unkngoog#page\/n4\/mode\/2up<\/a>
 \u201cFamous Poets. IV. \u2013 Thomas Hood\u201d in Belgravia<\/em> (1894) vol. 83 p. 178-90; \u201cFamous Poets. V. \u2013 Robert Burns\u201d in Belgravia<\/em> (1895) vol. 87 p. 248ff\u2019.<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Charlotte Anne Price Charlotte Anne Price was born in 1840\/1 in Burford, Oxfordshire, the daughter of James Scarlett Price (solicitor) and his wife Ann. From 1877 until her death in 1910 she lived at No 4 Clarendon Villas (now 12 Pittville Lawn) in Cheltenham. In 1861 she was living at home in Burford with herContinue reading “Price Charlotte”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":80,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1466","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pittvillehistory.org.uk\/wpt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pittvillehistory.org.uk\/wpt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pittvillehistory.org.uk\/wpt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pittvillehistory.org.uk\/wpt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pittvillehistory.org.uk\/wpt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1466"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/pittvillehistory.org.uk\/wpt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2965,"href":"https:\/\/pittvillehistory.org.uk\/wpt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1466\/revisions\/2965"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pittvillehistory.org.uk\/wpt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/80"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pittvillehistory.org.uk\/wpt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}